Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Chicken Fight

The
judge’s chambers were just what you would expect.The walls were clad in mahogany paneling and
burgundy leather chairs lined the table. I was assisting
my boss Max that day, as I had been on the job just two weeks and had only been a “real”
lawyer for a few weeks before that.

We
all stood as the judge entered the chambers. The judge was in his 70s and a
little hunched over. He had a full head of white hair.His craggy face bore a permanent scowl. Max whispered to me, “That’s Judge Wilson, a
real ‘good ole’ boy’ who was raised in the country.”“Jeez”,
I thought, I’m glad I‘m not arguing in front of this guy.”

Max
leaned over to me, “Dave, you’ve done all the research; I’m going to let you
argue this.”After recovering from the
shock, I protested, “But Max, I’ve never argued in court.”Max chuckled:“I guess you’ll learn. And by the way Dave, I don’t think your arguments
are going to fly.”“Great”, I thought, “not
only am I a novice, now I’m being told I have a bad case.”

Indeed,
aside from my lack of experience, I had a bigger hurdle.I represented the County and was arguing that
cock-fighting was illegal, despite the fact that it had been going on openly in
our town for over 100 years.The County
was fairly urban, but there was a substantial rural and agricultural
population, and cock-fighting was a way of life.The key to my position was that cock-fighting
violated the laws prohibiting cruelty to animals.

After
making my arguments and citing all the applicable cases, the opposition offered
its self-assured rebuttal:“Judge, we
been doin’ this a long time and nobody ever stopped us. It ain’t cruel, it’s a
sport.”

After
the last arguments were made, Judge Wilson looked at the court file for a few
minutes and stood up.He looked at me
and said, “That dog won’t hunt.”

________

I wrote this for the Week
85 Trifecta Writing Challenge where we are to write 33-333 words using the word
“fly” in the context of something moving or passing.

27 comments:

Thanks Morgan. Yeah, it's funny. This actually took place 30 years ago in west central Florida which was more urban than rural but still had many trappings of the "old south", remnants of which exist today.

The same type of debate goes on where I live as to whether fur trapping should be legal or not. It really comes down to the country folk bristling (I was so impressed when you used that word I wanted to use it too!) at the city folk telling them what's right and what isn't.

That was essentially the debate. Ultimately, the "city folk" prevailed but it was a hard fought battle. Thanks for your comments Valerie. Btw, I didn't think bristle was an unusual word but now that I think about it, I don't hear it used much.

This was really a big deal in our city and as a 24 year year old "newbie" lawyer, I was thrust into the political debate as the unwitting pawn. After a newspaper story about how I was trying to shut down cock-fighting, I was not the most popular guy in town,at least, not among the country folk. Overall, it has always been an interesting job, though. Thanks Linda.

Thanks so much Ivy. I'd like to take credit for the judge's line, but he actually said that. I love those colorful southern expressions. If this piece were longer, there would have been more dialogue, which I love to write. I wrote a piece in November called "The Senator" which offers another story with some southern flavor.

I love your stories/essays. Perfect way to end the piece with that line of dialog. I once attended a cock fight. I can't remember where, though it was in the U.S.- Texas, TN? I don't know. I was very young. My father was curious about it. He let me tag along. I wish he hadn't. It made quite an impression on me. The roosters had blades attached to their feet, and they sliced the hell out of each other. It was awful. If that's not animal cruelty I don't know what is. Your post brought it all back! Great piece! I enjoyed your inner dialog..

Thanks Bjorn. As I indicated to Steph, we ultimately won since this hearing was the first of many. In the judge's defense, if you are raised in that culture, it's just very hard to see the point of view.

Talk about trial by fire! The cynic in me wonders if your colleague hoped you'd hang yourself and he'd look good :) (I've worked with this type, and nothing is more satisfying than when they trip themselves up on their own feigned innocence.)